MELFORT — Grain handling company G3 has announced plans to build two more elevators in Western Canada.
In a Sept. 27 news release, the company confirmed it will build new, high throughput facilities at Rycroft, Alta., and Melfort, Sask.
Melfort is about 200 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon. Rycroft is located about 500 km northwest of Edmonton.
The Rycroft facility will be G3’s first facility serving growers in the Peace River region.
Construction on the new facilities is slated to begin this year, pending final regulatory approvals, G3 said in a news release.
Completion is expected in early 2023.
G3’s new elevators will be similar to the company’s other recently constructed facilities.
Both will have storage capacity of 42,000 tonnes and loop track capabilities designed to load 150-car grain trains without shunting.
The facilities will also have the ability to unload Super-B truck deliveries in less than five minutes, G3 said.
Outgoing trains will deliver grain to G3’s new West Coast export terminal located in North Vancouver.
“We are excited to extend our network of high efficiency facilities to the farming communities around Rycroft and Melfort,” said G3 chief executive officer Don Chapman.
“G3 is keeping grain moving to market, and that means more delivery opportunities for our farmer customers, and faster service, which saves farmers time and money.”
G3 currently has 17 grain elevators in Western Canada including two that opened this year — G3 Vermilion, Alta., and G3 Swift Current, Sask.
The addition of Melfort and Rycroft will make G3 the fourth-largest elevator company in Canada in terms of total storage capacity at primary delivery points.
Total G3 capacity at primary elevators will increase to about 740,000 tonnes when the elevators are completed.
Only Viterra (two million tonnes), Richardson (1.7 million tonnes) and Parrish & Heimbecker (1.1 million tonnes) will have more country storage.
